Libra vs. The World: Facebook Adamant of 2020 Launch

The back and forth battling between Facebook’s Libra project and several major global entities continues. In a month where Germany and France have put down their seemingly unconquerable barriers, David Marcus, the head of Calibra at Facebook, has looked to ease concerns and make promises. 

Marcus, in a series of tweets, looked to dispel the notion that Libra was a threat to national currency sovereignty. He has now come out and said that the 2020 launch date is still on the cards dispute the regulatory hurdles that keep cropping up.

In an interview with Swiss newspaper NZZ, the man in charge said that before their launch date, the company had time to try and quell all concerns adequately and to create a suitable regulatory environment.

“The goal is still to launch Libra next year,” Facebook’s David Marcus told NZZ. “Until then, we’ll need to address all questions adequately, create a suitable regulatory environment.”

The creation of this acceptable regulatory environment is no easy task, especially with some countries blocking the idea even before the launch, and more than a fair share coming against Facebook in the past few months. 

Places like India and China were never going to be susceptible to Facebook implementing its own currency. However, the addition of significant nations like Germany and France have surely dented the ambition.

What appears more likely is that of Facebook is to stick to its 2020 deadline, the launch of Libra will be a shadow of what was promised, with much fanfare, back in the early summer. Libra is designed to be a global coin, usable over things like Instagram, Facebook, and Whatsapp, but if Facebook cannot appease every country’s regulatory requirements, it may have a limited reach and use.

If this is the path that Facebook will have to tread with Libra, it may be the only option, to begin with until cryptocurrencies become more understood, accepted, and utilized. However, that being said, it could be that Libra may have some nationalized competition in the future. 

China is well known for its effort to create a Libra-like currency controlled and owned by the central bank. More so, even France has suggested the idea of a blockchain-based ‘EuroCoin’. Even Germany is starting to talk about their own foray into the blockchain tokenized arena.

Libra’s battles against the regulatory system may be far from over, but it is still appealing to hear that they believe there is every possibility for the ambitious project to come to fruition in the next year. What Libra looks like by that stage will, of course, be another matter altogether. 

This article was provided by TheDailChain.com where it was originally published by Darryn Pollock on Sep 22, 2019.